The Pharisee official came by night. Perhaps to shield Jesus from scrutiny, but most likely to preserve his own position among the Pharisees. He proclaimed "We know that you are a teacher who has come from God", yet the official stand was to oppose this man who had overturned the Temple Cult leaders' corruption in public. They knew He was from God, but had to oppose Him in public because He was threatening their position, power and wealth. What a strong power over someone the worldly empire values have, that one should know in their mind, heart and soul, in their conscience that one is from God and speaks the truth, yet have to publicly denounce that person because of the cost to their worldly position, power and wealth. So, Nicodemus, whose conscience drove him to seek Jesus, also wanted to hold onto His position and what came with it.
Jesus answered the question that Nicodemus did not ask with an answer that might have been very difficult to hear. You cannot be double-minded. You are either "born from above" and know that your kinship, belonging, values and citizenship are primarily in the Kingdom of God, or you are not, and your allegiances, ideologies, values and loyalties are worldly. Being a Pharisee, Nicodemus struggled with literal thinking. Pharisees still do. He was thinking of physical birth. Jesus was talking about being "born from above" in water (the water of repentance) and the Spirit of God, within the guidance and power of the Spirit of God. It is a spiritual birth. Indeed, the water baptism is an acknowledgement of the spiritual connection we already have with God, for the words "from above" do not in any way mean that we did anything but receive it. God birthed us in the Spirit. We either live as people who see our first reality in life as being in God or we do not. We either live as people who embrace the spiritual truth of our relationship with God and exhibit the values of the Kingdom in how we live, or we live as people who only see ourselves as being in and of this part of the Kingdom, and we do not embrace them. Nicodemus had been claiming that connection, but his mind, heart and soul were living as if there was none, adopting instead the worldly empire values that got him his position, power and wealth.
Jesus then gave a lesson on the difference between Kingdom and worldly values. First, he admonished Nicodemus for claiming to be a leader of God and not understanding the spiritual truths of being a child of God. Then Jesus spoke of His mission as Jacob's ladder, the "ascender" and "descender" between that part of God's Kingdom and this part of it. He was foretelling of His death, and again did so regarding the serpent in the wilderness that, when looked upon brought salvation as it was lifted up on a pole. Just so, Jesus would be lifted up on wood and it would mean salvation. This is a most necessary spiritual truth. Worldly empire will not provide this, indeed it cannot. Living worldly empire values does not bring us closer to the one who saves. We can claim the name, worship and praise, tithe and witness all we want, but if we do not live out of our spiritual Kingdom values in the world, we are not living as people who acknowledge that we have been "born from above."
Jesus gave the context for this lifting up. It is Agape Love. God so actively committed on behalf of the unworthy in the whole world, that God sent the Son, the beloved to teach us about Kingdom values. God so actively committed on behalf of the whole world, that Jesus was sent to die for the world, not to condemn it. As John proclaimed when he first saw Jesus coming in the wilderness, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!", so we acknowledge that it was for the whole world that Jesus came, not to condemn but to save. It was not just some, special and privileged who Jesus came to save. God's Grace and Agape are not limited that way. Jesus took away the sin of the whole world in order that we might live as children of God who live by Kingdom of God values. Jesus then (vs. 18-21) explained that those who do not believe in Jesus as God's messenger and savior, those who do not believe His message of Good News and live Kingdom values have ignored the light for darkness, have chosen to live evil hatred instead of the light of love. They may even claim Jesus' name, but choose to live worldly empire values instead of Kingdom values, and in so doing have distanced themselves from God and thereby have condemned themselves. Jesus did not condemn them to ignore the Kingdom values He taught and live in darkness. They chose to ignore the spiritual truth of their being for the prestige, position, power and wealth that worldly empire values could give them, and walked away from true light.
Wow. We do not know what happened with Nicodemus immediately after this encounter. Perhaps it was too much to come to value and he joined the rest of the religious leaders who gave lip service to God but lived worldly empire values. We do know that he argued on Jesus' behalf (chapter 7) and that he helped Joseph of Arimathea with Jesus' burial (chapter 19). Perhaps some of it sunk in.
We are spiritual beings in physical bodies. We are living in the Kingdom of God, here and now. If our primary relationship is with God, then we will acknowledge God's boundless mercy and Grace and live thankful lives, living the values of the Kingdom to which we belong. If we do not make our primary relationship that with God, then we will live worldly empire values living as if our connection is only to this part of God's Kingdom, and not acknowledge God. If we choose to give lip service to God, even worship, praise, tithe and witness, and do not live Kingdom of God values, then we are living the worldly empire values life, far from God. Even if you are recognized as a religious leader, but do not live Kingdom of God values in the world around you, you are not living as one who is "born from above." Jesus spoke the word of God. It was His Good News, His commands. He came to bring Kingdom values to light in how we live in a world that is filled with the darkness produced by living worldly empire values. If we believe in Jesus' testimony and witness to God's Kingdom values and live them, then we are walking in the light and not in the darkness. There is nothing here of then and there in the Kingdom, but rather of how we live here and now in it.
You are "born from above". Your citizenship is in the Kingdom of God. As a child of God and citizen of the Kingdom, you are called to live Kingdom of God values in the world around you, as Jesus taught us to do. God's love for the whole world demands that we put those values out into the world, and not more of the darkness of worldly empire values that the people who walk in darkness already know too well. Be a person of the light, "born from above" and living the Agape Love in the world that Jesus commands, for the sake of the whole world that God so loves.
Pastor Jamie
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